Orthodox teaching about the afterlife. The teaching of the Old Testament religion about the afterlife

What is the afterlife, or what is life after death like? Wishing to proceed to the feasible solution of this mysterious question, I remember Your words, Christ our God, that without You we can do nothing good, but “ask and it will be given to you”; and therefore I pray to Thee with a humble and contrite heart; come to my aid, enlightening me, like every person in the world who comes to you. Bless yourself and point out, with the assistance of Your All-Holy Spirit, where we should look for the solution of our question about the afterlife, a question so necessary for the present time. We need such permission both in and of itself, as well as to put to shame the two false directions of the human spirit, materialism and spiritualism, which are now striving for dominance, expressing a painful state of the soul, an epidemic state, contrary to Christian doctrine..

Part 1

WILL LIVE!

Man's afterlife consists of two periods; 1) the afterlife until the resurrection of the dead and the universal judgment - the life of the soul, and 2) the afterlife after this judgment - the eternal life of man. In the second period of the afterlife, everyone has the same age, according to the teachings of the word of God.

The Savior directly said that souls live beyond the grave like angels; therefore, the afterlife state of the soul is conscious, and if souls live like angels, then their state is active, as our Orthodox Church teaches, and not unconscious and sleepy, as some people think.

The false doctrine of the sleepy, unconscious, and therefore inactive state of the soul in the first period of its afterlife does not agree with either the Revelation of the Old and New Testaments, or with common sense. It appeared in the III century in the Christian society due to a misunderstanding of some expressions of the word of God. In the Middle Ages, this false doctrine made itself felt, and even Luther sometimes attributed an unconscious sleepy state to the souls after the grave. During the Reformation, the main representatives of this doctrine were the Anabaptists - the Baptists. This doctrine was further developed by the Socinian heretics, who rejected the Holy Trinity and the divinity of Jesus Christ. False teaching does not cease to develop even in our time.

The revelation of both the Old and the New Testament offers us the dogma of the afterlife of the soul, and at the same time lets us know that the state of the soul after the grave is personal, independent, conscious and effective. If it were not so, then the word of God would not represent to us the sleeping ones acting consciously.

After separation from the body on earth, the soul in the afterlife continues its existence on its own during the entire first period. The spirit and soul continue their existence beyond the grave, enter into a state of either blissful or painful, from which they can be delivered through the prayers of St. Churches.

Thus, the first period of the afterlife also includes the possibility for some souls of deliverance from hellish torment before the final judgment. The second period of the afterlife of souls represents only a blissful or only painful state.

The body on earth serves as an obstacle to the soul in its activity, in the same place, beyond the grave, in the first period - these obstacles will be eliminated by the absence of the body, and the soul will be able to act solely according to its own mood, assimilated by it on earth; either good or evil. And in the second period of its afterlife, the soul will act, although under the influence of the body, with which it will again unite, but the body will already change, and its influence will even favor the activity of the soul, freeing itself from gross carnal needs and gaining new spiritual properties.

In this form, the Lord Jesus Christ depicted the afterlife and the activity of souls in the first period of the afterlife in his parable of the rich man and Lazarus, where the souls of the righteous and the sinner are presented as alive and consciously acting internally and externally. Their souls think, desire and feel. True, on earth the soul can change its good activity to evil and, conversely, evil to good, but with which it passed beyond the grave, that activity will already develop for the whole eternity.

It was not the body that animated the soul, but the soul - the body; consequently, even without a body, without all its external organs, it will retain all its powers and abilities. And its action continues beyond the grave, with the only difference being that it will be incomparably more perfect than earthly. As proof, let us recall the parable of Jesus Christ: despite the immeasurable abyss separating paradise from hell, the dead rich man, who is in hell, saw and recognized both Abraham and Lazarus, who are in paradise; moreover, a conversation with Abraham.

Thus, the activity of the soul and all its forces in the afterlife will be much more perfect. Here, on earth, we see objects at a great distance with the help of telescopes, and yet the action of vision cannot be perfect, it has a limit beyond which vision, even armed with lenses, does not extend. Beyond the grave, even the abyss does not prevent the righteous from seeing sinners, and the condemned from seeing the saved. The soul, being in the body, saw a person and other objects - it was the soul that saw, and not the eye; the soul heard, not the ear; smell, taste, touch were felt by the soul, and not by the members of the body; therefore, these powers and abilities will be with her beyond the grave; she is either rewarded or punished because she feels rewarded or punished.
If it is natural for the soul to live in the company of creatures like it, if the feelings of the soul are united on earth by God Himself in the union of undying love, then, according to the power of undying love, souls are not separated by a grave, but, as St. Church, live in the society of other spirits and souls.

The internal, self-personal activity of the soul consists of: self-consciousness, thinking, cognition, feeling and desire. External activity, however, consists of various influences on all beings and inanimate objects around us.

DIE BUT DID NOT STOP LOVING

The Word of God revealed to us that the angels of God do not live alone, but are in fellowship with each other. The same word of God, namely the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, says that beyond the grave, righteous souls in His kingdom will live as angels; consequently, the souls will also be in spiritual communion with each other.

Sociability is a natural, natural property of the soul, without which the existence of the soul does not reach its goal - bliss; only through communication, interaction can the soul get out of that unnatural state for it, about which its Creator Himself said: "it's not good to be alone"(Gen. 2, 18). These words refer to the time when man was in paradise, where there is nothing but heavenly bliss. For perfect bliss, it means that only one thing was lacking - he was a homogeneous being, with whom he would be together, in cohabitation and in communion. From this it is clear that bliss requires precisely interaction, communion.

If communion is a natural need of the soul, without which, consequently, the very bliss of the soul is impossible, then this need will be most perfectly satisfied after the grave in the company of God's chosen saints.
The souls of both states of the afterlife, saved and unresolved, if they were still connected on earth (and especially for some reason close to each other’s heart, sealed by a close union of kinship, friendship, acquaintance), and beyond the grave continue to sincerely, sincerely love: even more than loved during earthly life. If they love, it means that they remember those who are still on earth. Knowing the life of the living, the inhabitants of the afterlife take part in it, grieving and rejoicing with the living. Having a common one God, those who have passed into the afterlife hope for the prayers and intercession of the living and wish salvation both for themselves and those still living on earth, expecting them hourly to rest in the afterlife fatherland.

So, love, together with the soul, passes beyond the grave into the realm of love, where no one can exist without love. Love planted in the heart, sanctified and strengthened by faith, burns beyond the grave to the source of love - God - and to the neighbors left on earth.
Not only those who are in God are perfect, but also not yet completely removed from God, imperfect, retain love for those who remain on earth.

Only the lost souls, as completely alien to love, to whom love was still painful on earth, whose hearts were constantly full of malice, hatred - and beyond the grave they are alien to love for their neighbors. Whatever the soul learns on earth, love or hatred, passes into eternity. The fact that the dead, if they had only true love on earth, and after the transition to the afterlife, love us, the living, is testified by the gospel rich man and Lazarus. The Lord clearly expresses: the rich man, being in hell, with all his sorrows, still remembers his brothers who remained on earth, cares about their afterlife. Therefore, he loves them. If a sinner loves so much, then with what tender parental love do the resettled parents love their orphans left on earth! With what ardent love do the spouses who have passed into the other world love their widows who have remained on earth! With what angelic love do the children who have moved beyond the grave love their parents who have remained on earth! With what sincere love do brothers, sisters, friends, acquaintances and all true Christians who have departed from this life love their brothers, sisters, friends, acquaintances who have remained on earth, and all with whom the Christian faith united them! So those who are in hell love us and take care of us, and those who are in paradise pray for us. He who does not allow the love of the dead to the living discovers in such reasoning his own cold heart, alien to the divine fire of love, alien to spiritual life, far from the Lord Jesus Christ, who united all the members of His Church, wherever they were, on earth or beyond. coffin, undying love.

The activities of a good or evil soul relative to loved ones continue beyond the grave. A kind soul, thinks how to save loved ones and everyone in general. And the second - evil - how to destroy.
The gospel rich man could know about the state of life of the brothers on earth from his own afterlife state - not seeing any afterlife joy, as the Gospel tells, he made a conclusion about their carefree life. If they had led a more or less pious life, they would not have forgotten their dead brother either, and would have helped him in some way; then he could say that he was receiving some comfort from their prayers. Here is the first and main reason why the dead know our earthly life, good and evil: because of its influence on their own afterlife.
So, there are three reasons why the imperfect dead know the life of the living: 1) their own afterlife, 2) the perfection of feelings beyond the grave, and 3) sympathy for the living.
Death at first produces grief - because of the visible separation from the beloved person. It is said that a grieving soul is much relieved after shedding tears. Sorrow without crying greatly oppresses the soul. And by faith only temperate, moderate weeping is prescribed. He who is leaving somewhere far away and for a long time asks the one with whom he is separated not to cry, but to pray to God. The deceased in this case is completely similar to the one who left; with the only difference being that separation from the first, i.e. with the dead, perhaps the shortest, and each next hour can again become an hour of joyful rendezvous - according to the commandment given by God, be ready for relocation to the afterlife at any hour. Therefore, immoderate crying is useless and harmful to those separated; he interferes with prayer, through which everything is possible for the believer.

Prayer and lamentation for sins are beneficial to both who have been separated. Souls are cleansed from sins through prayer. Since love for those who have departed cannot be extinguished, therefore it is commanded to show sympathy for them - to bear each other's burdens, to intercede for the sins of the dead, as if for their own. And from here comes weeping for the sins of the deceased, through which God advances in mercy to the deceased. At the same time, the Savior brings blessedness to the intercessor for the dead.

Unrestrained weeping for the dead is harmful to both the living and the dead. We need to cry not about the fact that our loved ones moved to another world (after all, that world is better than ours), but about sins. Such weeping is pleasing to God, and benefits the dead, and prepares the weeping faithful reward beyond the grave. But how will God have mercy on the dead, if the living one does not pray for him, does not sympathize, but indulges in immoderate weeping, despondency, and perhaps grumbling?

The deceased have learned by experience about the eternal life of man, and we, who are still here, can only strive to improve their condition, as God commanded us: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness"(Matthew 6:33) and "carry one another's burdens"(Gal. 6:2). Our life will greatly help the state of the dead if we take part in them.

Jesus Christ commanded to be ready for death at any hour. It is impossible to fulfill this commandment if you do not imagine the inhabitants of the afterlife. It is impossible to imagine judgment, heaven and hell without people, among whom are our relatives, acquaintances and all dear to our hearts. And what is this heart that would not be touched by the state of sinners in the afterlife? Seeing a drowning man, you involuntarily rush to give a helping hand to save him. Vividly imagining the afterlife of sinners, you will involuntarily begin to look for means to save them.

Weeping is forbidden, but complacency is commanded. Jesus Christ himself explained why crying is useless, telling Martha, Lazarus' sister, that her brother would rise again, and Jairus that his daughter was not dead, but asleep; and in another place he taught that he is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living; therefore, those who have passed into the afterlife are all alive. Why cry for the living, to whom we will come in due time? Chrysostom teaches that it is not sobs and cliques that do honor to the dead, but songs and psalmody and a fair amount of life. Crying inconsolable, hopeless, not imbued with faith in the afterlife, the Lord forbade. But weeping, expressing grief at the separation of cohabitation on earth, the weeping that Jesus Christ Himself manifested at the grave of Lazarus, such weeping is not forbidden.

The soul has an inherent hope in God and in itself similar beings, with which it is in various proportions. Having parted from the body and entered the afterlife, the soul retains everything that belongs to it, including hope in God and in the people close and dear to it who have remained on earth. Blessed Augustine writes: “The deceased hope to receive help through us; for the time of work has flown away for them.” The same truth is confirmed by St. Ephraim Sirin: “If on earth, moving from one country to another, we have a need for guides, how will this become necessary when we pass into eternal life.”

Approaching death, ap. Paul asked the believers to pray for him. If even the chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit, who was in paradise, desired prayer for himself, then what can be said about the imperfect departed? Of course, they also want us not to forget them, to intercede for them before God and help them in any way we can. They want our prayers just as much as we, still alive, want the Saints to pray for us, and the Saints want salvation for us, the living, as well as the imperfectly deceased.

The departing one, wishing to continue the fulfillment of his deeds on earth even after death, instructs the other, who remains, to realize his will. The fruits of activity belong to its inspirer, wherever he may be; to him belongs glory, thanksgiving, and recompense. Failure to fulfill such a will deprives the testator of peace, since it turns out that he is no longer doing anything for the common good. The one who did not fulfill the testament is subject to God's judgment as a murderer, as having taken away the means that could save the testator from hell, save him from eternal death. He stole the life of the deceased, he did not distribute his name to the poor! And the word of God states that almsgiving delivers from death, therefore, the one who remains on earth is the cause of death of the one who lives behind the grave, that is, the murderer. He is guilty as a murderer. But here, however, a case is possible when the sacrifice of the deceased is not accepted. Probably not without reason, everything is the will of God.

The last wish, of course, if it is not illegal, the last will of the dying person is fulfilled sacredly - in the name of the peace of the departed and the executor of the will's own conscience. Through the fulfillment of the Christian testament, God moves to have mercy on the deceased. He will hear the one who asks in faith, and at the same time will bring blessing and intercession for the deceased.
In general, all our negligence regarding the dead does not remain without sad consequences. There is a popular proverb: “A dead man is not standing at the gate, but he will take his own!” This proverb must not be neglected, for it contains a considerable part of the truth.

Until the final decision of God's judgment, even the righteous in paradise are not alien to the sorrow that comes from their love for sinners who are on earth and for sinners who are in hell. And the mournful state of sinners in hell, whose fate is not finally decided, is increased by our sinful life. If the dead are deprived of grace through our negligence or malicious intent, then they can cry out to God for revenge, and the true avenger will not be late. The punishment of God will soon befall such unjust people. The stolen estate of the one who has been killed will not go for the future. For the iniquitous honor, property and rights of the deceased, many suffer to this day. Torments are infinitely varied. People suffer and do not understand the reason, or, to put it better, do not want to confess their guilt.

All babies who died after St. baptism will surely receive salvation, according to the power of the death of Jesus Christ. For if they are pure from common sin, because they are cleansed by Divine baptism, and from their own (since children do not yet have their own will and therefore do not sin), then, without any doubt, they are saved. Consequently, parents at the birth of children are obliged to take care: enter through St. baptism of new members Church of Christ into the Orthodox faith, than to make them heirs of eternal life in Christ. It is clear that the afterlife of unbaptized babies is unenviable.

The words of the Golden Mouth, spoken by him on behalf of the children, testify to the afterlife of babies: “Do not cry, our outcome and the passage of air ordeals, accompanied by angels, were painless. The devils found nothing in us And By the grace of our Lord, God, we are where the angels and all the Saints are, and we pray to God for you. So, if children pray, it means that they are aware of the existence of their parents, remember and love them. The degree of blessedness of infants, according to the teaching of the Fathers of the Church, is more beautiful than even virgins and saints. The afterlife voice of babies calls to their parents through the mouth of the Church: “I died early, but I didn’t have time to blacken myself with sins, like you, and avoided the danger of sinning; therefore, it is better to cry about yourselves, who sin, always ”(“ The Order of the Burial of Babies ”). Love for dead children should be expressed in prayer for them. A Christian mother sees in her dead child her closest prayer book before the Throne of the Lord, and in reverent tenderness blesses the Lord both for him and for herself.

AND THE SOUL SPEAKS TO THE SOUL ...

If the interaction of souls still in the body on earth with those already in the afterlife without bodies is possible, then how can one deny this after the grave, when everyone will be either without gross bodies - in the first period of the afterlife, or in new, spiritual bodies - in second period?

Now let's proceed to the description of the afterlife, its two states: heavenly life and hellish life, based on the teachings of St. of the Orthodox Church about the twofold afterlife state of souls. The Word of God also testifies to the possibility of delivering some souls from hell through the prayers of St. Churches. Where are these souls before their deliverance, since there is no middle ground between heaven and hell?

They cannot be in heaven. Therefore, their life is in hell. Hell contains two states: unresolved and lost. Why are some souls not finally decided at a private judgment? Because they did not perish for the kingdom of God, it means that they have hope for eternal life, life with the Lord.

According to the testimony of the word of God, the fate of not only mankind, but also the most evil spirits has not yet been finally decided, as can be seen from the words spoken by demons to the Lord Jesus Christ: "who came to torment us before the time"(Matt. 8.29) and petitions: "so that he does not command them to go into the abyss"(Luke 8.31). The Church teaches that in the first period of the afterlife, some souls inherit heaven, while others inherit hell, there is no middle ground.

Where are those souls behind the grave whose fate has not been finally decided in a private court? To comprehend this question, let's look at what the unresolved state and hell mean in general. And for a visual presentation of this issue, let's take something similar on earth: a dungeon and a hospital. The first is for the criminals of the law, and the second for the sick. Some of the criminals, depending on the nature of the crime and the degree of guilt, are determined for temporary imprisonment in prison, while others for eternal imprisonment. The same is true in a hospital where patients are admitted who are not capable of a healthy life and activity: for some, the disease is curable, while for others it is fatal. The sinner is morally ill, a criminal of the law; his soul after the transition to the afterlife, as morally ill, bearing in itself the stains of sin, is itself incapable of paradise, in which there can be no impurity. And that is why she enters hell, as into a spiritual prison and, as it were, into a hospital for moral ailments. Therefore, in hell, some souls, depending on the type and degree of their sinfulness, linger longer, others less. Who is less?.. Souls who have not lost the desire for salvation, but who have not had time to bear the fruits of true repentance on earth. They are subject to temporary punishments in hell, from which they are freed only by the prayers of the Church, and not through the patience of punishment, as the Catholic Church teaches.

Destined for salvation, but temporarily residing in hell, along with the inhabitants of paradise, they bow their knees in the name of Jesus. This is the third, unresolved, state of souls in the afterlife of the first period, i.e. a state that must later become a state of bliss, and therefore not entirely alien to angelic life. What is sung, for example, in one of the Easter songs: “Now everything is filled with light: heaven, and earth, and the underworld ...”, and is also confirmed by the words of St. Paul: "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven, on earth, and in the underworld..."(Phil. 2, 10). Here, under the word "hell" it is necessary to understand the transitional state of souls, which, along with the inhabitants of heaven and earth, kneel before the name of Jesus Christ; they bow, because they are not deprived of the grace-filled light of Christ. Of course, the inhabitants of Gehenna do not bow their knees, completely alien to the light of grace. The demons and their accomplices do not kneel, because they have completely perished for eternal life.

There are similarities and differences between the dogma of the Catholic Church about purgation and the Orthodox dogma about the unresolved state. The similarity of the teaching lies in the assessment of which souls belong to this afterlife. The dissimilarity lies in the method, the means of purification. Among Catholics, purification requires punishment for the soul after the grave, if it did not have it on earth. In Orthodoxy, however, Christ is a cleansing for those who believe in Him, for He took upon Himself both sins, and the consequence of sin is punishment. Souls of an unresolved state that are not completely cleansed on earth are healed and replenished with grace, at the intercession of the Church triumphant and militant for the imperfect dead, who are in hell. The Spirit of God Himself intercedes for His temples (people) with inexpressible sighs. He worries about the salvation of His fallen creature, but not denying its God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The dead in St. Easter, on one of its days, they receive special mercy from God; if they repent of their sins, then their sins are forgiven, even if they did not bear the fruits of repentance.

LIFE PARADISE

A person, having a moral aspiration, while still on earth, can change his character, his state of mind: good for evil, or vice versa, evil for good. It is impossible to do this behind the grave; good remains good, and evil remains evil. And the soul beyond the grave is no longer an autocratic being, for it is no longer able to change its development, even if it wishes, as evidenced by the words of Jesus Christ: "Bind his hands and feet, take him and cast him into outer darkness..."(Matthew 22:13) .

The soul cannot acquire new image thoughts and feelings, and generally cannot change itself, but in the soul can only further unfold what has begun here on earth. What is sown is what is reaped. Such is the meaning of earthly life, as the basis of the beginning regarding life after death - happy or unhappy.

Good will develop more and more in eternity. Bliss is explained by this development. Those who subdue the flesh to the spirit, laboring in the name of God with fear, rejoice with unearthly joy, because the object of their life is the Lord Jesus Christ. Their mind and heart are in God and in heavenly life; for them everything earthly is nothing. Nothing can disturb their unearthly joy; here is the beginning, the anticipation of a blissful afterlife! The soul that finds its joy in God, having passed into eternity, has face to face an object that delights the senses.
So, on earth, he who abides in love with his neighbors (of course, in Christian love - pure, spiritual, heavenly) already abides in God and God abides in him. Stay and communion with God on earth is the beginning of that stay and communion with God, which will follow in paradise. Destined to be heirs of the kingdom of God, Jesus Christ Himself said that while they were still on earth, the kingdom of God was already within them. Those. their bodies are still on earth, but their minds and hearts have already acquired the spiritual, impassive state of truth, peace and joy that is characteristic of the kingdom of God.

Isn't this what the whole world expects in the end: eternity will swallow up time itself, destroy death, and reveal itself to humanity in all its fullness and infinity!

The place where the righteous go after a private judgment, or in general their condition, in the Holy Scriptures has different names; the most common and most common name is paradise. The word "paradise" means a garden proper, and in particular a fertile garden full of shady and beautiful trees and flowers.

Sometimes the Lord called the place of residence of the righteous in heaven the kingdom of God, for example, in a speech addressed to the condemned: “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets in the kingdom of God; and themselves driven out. And they shall come from the east and the west, and the north and the south, and shall lie down in the kingdom of God.”(Luke 13:28).

For those who seek the kingdom of God, little is needed on the earth of the sensible; they are satisfied with little, and visible poverty (according to the concept of the secular world) constitutes perfect contentment for them. In another place, the Lord Jesus Christ calls the dwelling place of the righteous the house of the Heavenly Father with many mansions.

The words of St. app. Paul; he, ascended to the third heaven, heard voices there that it is impossible for a person to speak. This is the first period of the afterlife of heavenly life, a blissful life, but not yet perfect. And then the apostle continues that God has prepared for the righteous beyond the grave such perfect bliss, which nowhere on earth has the eye of man seen, nor the ear heard, and cannot imagine, imagine anything similar to man on earth. This is the second period of the afterlife paradise life of perfect bliss. So, according to the apostle, the second period of the heavenly afterlife is no longer the third heaven, but another perfect state or place - the kingdom of heaven, the house of the Heavenly Father.

After the Feast of the Renewal of the Temple, the Lord leaves Judea and goes beyond the Jordan. Here, in the Transjordan region, He will spend three months before Passover, then to return to Jerusalem for the last time. The Evangelist Luke describes in detail, in six chapters (from the 13th to the 18th), the sojourn of Jesus Christ in Transjordan. This final period of the life of the Savior is especially significant. The Lord tirelessly preaches, revealing the meaning of His teaching, and in multitudes accomplishes great and glorious deeds. One of the parables occupies a special place in the gospel narrative. This is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus:

“A certain man was rich, dressed in purple and fine linen, and feasted splendidly every day. There was also a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who was lying at his gate in scabs, and wished to feed on the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and the dogs, coming, licked his scabs. The beggar died and was carried by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died, and they buried him. And in hell, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom, and crying out, said: Father Abraham! have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said: child! remember that you have already received your good in your life, and Lazarus - evil; now he is comforted here, while you suffer; and besides all this, a great chasm has been established between us and you, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can they pass from there to us. Then he said: So I ask you, father, send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers; let him testify to them that they also do not come to this place of torment. Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen. He said: No, Father Abraham, but if anyone from the dead comes to them, they will repent. Then Abraham said to him: if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, then if someone rises from the dead, they will not believe (Luke 16:19-31).

The language of the Bible is particularly figurative. Within the framework of our earthly concepts it is impossible to display the realities underworld. And therefore often used in Holy Scripture metaphor, allegory and parable are the most appropriate form of narration about spiritual realities that are beyond the limits of human sensory experience. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is of a very special nature, for it reveals the secret of the afterlife and expounds religious truths that are extremely important for our salvation.

The first of them is that with the cessation of the physical existence of a person, with his death, the life of his self-conscious and unique personality does not stop, his individual spiritual nature does not go into non-existence. For there is a kind of supersensible reality, mysterious and incomprehensible to the mind, which accepts a person into its bosom after his death.

Another truth is that this otherworldly reality is differentiated, heterogeneous. It consists, as it were, of two worlds: from the world of good, called paradise, and from the world of evil, known to us under the name of hell. After physical death human personality inherits either one or the other world, in strict accordance with the state of the soul of each of us. There can be no injustice, hypocrisy or deceit in our gaining a posthumous fate: “You are weighed in the balance,” according to the prophet (Dan. 5:27), and a good soul is rewarded with a transition to the world of grace and light co-natural to it, and an evil soul finds a posthumous retribution in joining the pernicious world of evil.

From the parable, we also learn that these worlds are not completely isolated from each other, they are, as it were, visible to one another, but mutually impenetrable. It is impossible to pass from one world to another, although it is possible to contemplate it. Some semblance of this can be seen in our earthly life: a prisoner is in a world of unfreedom, which he is not able to leave of his own free will, but from his dungeon the prisoner can contemplate the world of free people, inaccessible to him.

Staying in the world of evil is associated with great suffering. In order to convey a sense of their torment, the Savior resorts to a very bright and strong image of fire. The rich man from the parable, consumed by the fiery heat, is tormented by thirst. He asks Lazarus to ease his ordeal and, dipping his fingers in water, bring him some moisture and coolness. This, of course, is an image, a symbol, a metaphor that helps to reveal a very important spiritual truth: beyond the boundaries of the earthly physical world, in the eternity of otherness, a sinful person will be in suffering, the image of which is the fire of hell. In our everyday life, to express a high degree of certain experiences, we often resort to metaphors containing the image of fire: “burn with shame”, “burn with impatience”, “flame of passion”, “fire of desire”. It is amazing that the fire from the parable of the Lord about the afterlife and the fire of the “passions and lusts” of this world reveal an undeniable relationship.

It often happens that the needs and desires of a person cannot be realized in his life, and then there is an internal conflict, discord, a contradiction with oneself, which psychologists call frustration. As a result, the negative tension of the inner life of a person increases, which, in turn, can lead to a clash between the personality and the world, which objectively impedes its self-realization. The greatest drama of posthumous retribution lies in the fact that, unlike earthly life, in the afterlife such tension can never be resolved by anything, constituting the essence of the inescapable torment of a sinful soul.

One or another of the two other worlds, namely the world of good or the world of evil, as already mentioned, is inherited by a person according to his spiritual state. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus expresses the agonizing state of the soul, contemplating the beautiful world of good, but dooming itself to a painful vegetative existence in the gloomy world of evil even during its lifetime.

In the perspective of eternal life, there is no place for injustice and unrighteousness that darkened the earthly path of man. It was here, in our temporary life, that one could deceive, mislead, present deeds and events one way or another. It is not uncommon for a person, being inherently sinful, evil and dishonest, to enjoy the favor of gullible and good people, hypocritically presenting himself as not what he really was. And sometimes it takes years for the deception to finally dissipate and become obvious. The other world, which awaits us all, does not know this: an unkind and sinful person inherits in eternity that which corresponds to the true state of his soul. He departs to the abode of evil with their fire, consuming and inescapable painful suffering, and a kind-hearted and gentle person inherits heavenly abode, transferring the grace of his soul to eternity and becoming an accomplice of immortal life in the bosom of Abraham.

It is not accidental in the parable of the Lord that the personification of two types of personality, two varieties life path and two options afterlife retribution in the form of the rich and the poor. Why exactly? After all, wealth in itself is not a sin, and the Lord does not condemn the rich man for being rich, for the presence or absence of money in a person is morally neutral. But in the Gospel narrative one can clearly trace the assertion of some kind of internal connection between the presence of wealth and the possibility of the death of the soul. Let us remember: “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Luke 18:24-25).

Why are earthly riches an obstacle to the inheritance of heavenly treasures? Yes, because wealth is associated with an abundance of temptations. In fact, a wealthy person can afford, if not all, then certainly a lot of what he wants. But a person's desires are often dictated not only by his needs for what is necessary and sufficient, but also by his instincts and passions, which are extremely difficult to restrain and control. And if a rich person succumbs to the power of instincts and passions, then there are no external restraining factors in his life. You need to be a very strong and strong-willed person, a spiritually hardened person, in order, being rich, to avoid the temptations of wealth. On the contrary, a poor person is objectively placed in conditions under which he often simply does not have the opportunity to indulge his passions and temptations. This restraint by external circumstances to a certain extent protects a person from sin, although, of course, it cannot be a guarantor of his salvation.

“I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house,” says the unfortunate rich man about the happy beggar, turning to Abraham, “for I have five brothers; let him testify to them that they also do not come to this place of torment. And Abraham answers him: if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, then if someone were raised from the dead, they would not believe (Luke 16:27-28, 31).

What great truth lies in these simple words! Indeed, people who are mad from the imaginary omnipotence of wealth, having the main goal of life to acquire earthly treasures, all conceivable and inconceivable wealth in the name of appeasing their passions - these people will not only not hear the word of Abraham and Moses, but they will not believe the resurrected dead if he comes to enlighten them.

Therefore, the word of God, brought to us through the centuries by the holy Gospel, is so essential for our salvation, from the pages of which the truth of earthly existence is revealed in the perspective of eternal life.

Over thousands of years of development of our civilization, different beliefs and religions have arisen. And every religion in one form or another formulated the idea of ​​life after death. Ideas about the afterlife are very different, however, there is one thing in common: death is not the absolute end of human existence, and life (soul, stream of consciousness) continues to exist after death physical body. Here are 15 religions from different parts of the world and their ideas about life after death.

The most ancient ideas about the afterlife were not divided: all dead people go to the same place, regardless of who they were on Earth. The first attempts to connect the afterlife with retribution are recorded in the Egyptian "Book of the Dead", associated with the afterlife court of Osiris.

IN ancient times there was no clear idea of ​​heaven and hell yet. The ancient Greeks believed that after death, the soul leaves the body and goes to the gloomy kingdom of Hades. There, her existence continues, rather bleak. Souls wander along the banks of Lethe, they have no joy, they are sad and complain about the evil fate that deprived them of sunlight and the delights of earthly life. The dark kingdom of Hades was hated by all living things. Hades was presented as a terrible ferocious beast that never lets go of its prey. Only the most courageous heroes and demigods could descend into the dark realm and return from there to the world of the living.

The ancient Greeks were cheerful as children. But any mention of death caused sadness: after all, after death, the soul will never know joy, will not see the life-giving light. She will only moan in despair from the joyless resignation to fate and the unchanging order of things. Only the initiates found bliss in communion with the celestials, and all the rest after death were expected only by suffering.

This religion is about 300 years older than Christianity and today has a certain number of followers in Greece and other parts of the world. Unlike most other religions on the planet, Epicureanism believes in many gods, but none of them pays attention to what human beings will become after death. Believers believe that everything, including their gods and souls, is made up of atoms. In addition, according to Epicureanism, there is no life after death, nothing like reincarnations, going to hell or heaven - nothing at all. When a person dies, in their opinion, the soul also dissolves and turns into nothing. Just the end!

The Bahá'í religion has brought together approximately seven million people under its banner. Baha'is believe that the human soul is eternal and beautiful, and each person must work on himself in order to get closer to God. Unlike most other religions, which have their own god or prophet, the Bahá'ís believe in one God for all religions in the world. According to the Baha'i, there is no heaven and hell, and most other religions mistakenly consider them to be some kind of physically existing places, while they should be considered symbolically.

The Baha'i attitude towards death is characterized by optimism. Bahá'u'lláh says: "O son of the Most High! I have made death a messenger of joy for you. What are you sad about? I commanded the light to shed its radiance upon you. What are you hiding?"

Approximately 4 million followers of Jainism believe in the existence of many gods and the reincarnation of souls. In Jainism, the main thing is not harming all living things, the goal is to get the maximum amount of good karma, which is achieved through good deeds. Good karma will help the soul to be freed, and the person to become a deity (deity) in the next life.

People who do not achieve liberation continue to revolve in the cycle of rebirth, and with bad karma, some of them may even go through the eight circles of hell and suffering. The eight circles of hell get tougher with each successive stage, and the soul goes through trials and even torture before getting another opportunity for reincarnation and another chance to achieve liberation. Although this may take a very long time, the liberated souls receive a place among the gods.

Shintoism (神道 Shinto - "the way of the gods") is a traditional religion in Japan, based on the animistic beliefs of the ancient Japanese, the objects of worship are numerous deities and spirits of the dead.

The strangeness of Shinto is that believers cannot publicly admit that they are adherents of this religion. According to some old Japanese Shinto legends, the dead end up in a gloomy underground place called Yomi, where a river separates the dead from the living. It's very similar to the Greek Hades, isn't it? Shintoists have an extremely negative attitude towards death and dead flesh. In Japanese, the verb "shinu" (to die) is considered obscene and is used only in case of extreme need in it.

Followers of this religion believe in ancient gods and spirits called "kami". Shintoists believe that some people can become kami after they die. According to Shinto, people are naturally pure and can keep their purity if they stay away from evil and go through some purification rituals. The main spiritual principle of Shinto is to live in harmony with nature and people. According to Shinto, the world is one habitat where kami, people and the souls of the dead live side by side. Shinto temples, by the way, are always organically integrated into the natural landscape (pictured is the “floating” torii of Itsukushima Temple in Miyajima).

In most Indian religions, the idea is widespread that after death, the soul of a person is reborn into a new body. The transmigration of souls (reincarnation) occurs at the behest of the higher world order and almost does not depend on a person. But it is in the power of everyone to influence this order and in a righteous way improve the conditions for the existence of the soul in the next life. In one of the collections of sacred hymns, it is described how the soul enters the womb only after a long journey through the world. The eternal soul is reborn again and again - not only in the bodies of animals and people, but also in plants, water and everything that is created. Moreover, her choice of the physical body is determined by the desires of the soul. So every follower of Hinduism can "order" whom he would like to reincarnate in the next life.

Everyone is familiar with the concepts of yin and yang, a very popular concept that all followers of Chinese traditional religion are true to. Yin is negative, dark, feminine, while yang is positive, bright, and masculine. The interaction of yin and yang greatly affects the fate of all entities and things. Those who live according to traditional Chinese religion believe in a peaceful life after death, however, a person can achieve more by performing certain rituals and paying special honor to the ancestors. After death, the god Cheng Huang determines whether a person was virtuous enough to get to the immortal gods and live in a Buddhist paradise, or he is on the road to hell, where an immediate rebirth and a new incarnation follow.

Sikhism is one of the most popular religions in India (approximately 25 million followers). Sikhism (ਸਿੱਖੀ) is a monotheistic religion founded in Punjab by Guru Nanak in 1500. Sikhs believe in the One God, the Almighty and All-pervading Creator. Nobody knows his real name. The form of worship of God in Sikhism is meditation. No other deities, demons, spirits, according to the Sikh religion, are worthy of worship.

The question of what will happen to a person after death, the Sikhs decide as follows: they consider all ideas about heaven and hell, retribution and sins, karma and new rebirths to be wrong. The doctrine of retribution future life, the demands of repentance, cleansing from sins, fasting, chastity and "good deeds" - all this, from the point of view of Sikhism, is an attempt by some mortals to manipulate others. After death, the human soul does not go anywhere - it simply dissolves in nature and returns to the Creator. But it does not disappear, but is preserved, like everything that exists.

Juche is one of the newer teachings on this list, and the state idea behind it makes it more of a socio-political ideology than a religion. Juche (주체, 主體) is a North Korean national communist state ideology developed personally by Kim Il Sung (leader of the country in 1948-1994) as a counterweight to imported Marxism. Juche emphasizes the independence of the DPRK and fences itself off from the influence of Stalinism and Maoism, and also provides an ideological justification for the personal power of the dictator and his successors. The Constitution of the DPRK establishes the leading role of Juche in state policy, defining it as "a worldview, in the center of which is a person, and revolutionary ideas aimed at realizing the independence of the masses."

Juche adherents personally worship Comrade Kim Il Sung, the first dictator of North Korea, who rules the country as an eternal president - now in the form of his son Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Soko, Il's wife. Juche followers believe that when they die, they go to a place where they will forever remain with their dictator-president. I don't know if this is heaven or hell.

Zoroastrianism (بهدین‎ - good faith) is one of the oldest religions, originating in the revelation of the prophet Spitama Zarathustra (زرتشت‎, Ζωροάστρης), received by him from God - Ahura Mazda. Zarathustra's teachings are based on the free moral choice of good thoughts, good words and good deeds by a person. They believe in Ahura Mazda - " wise god”, the good creator, and to Zarathustra, as the only prophet of Ahura Mazda, who showed mankind the path to righteousness and purity.

The Teaching of Zarathustra was one of the first, ready to recognize the personal responsibility of the soul for the deeds performed in earthly life. Those who choose Righteousness (Asha) are waiting for heavenly bliss, those who choose Falsehood - torment and self-destruction in hell. Zoroastrianism introduces the concept of a posthumous judgment, which is a count of deeds committed in life. If the good deeds of a person even outweighed the evil ones by a hair, the yazats lead the soul to the House of Songs. If the evil deeds outweigh the soul, the deva Vizaresh (the deva of death) drags the soul to hell. The concept of the Chinwad Bridge leading to Garodmana over the abyss of hell is also widespread. For the righteous, it becomes wide and comfortable; before sinners, it turns into a sharp blade, from which they fall into hell.

In Islam, earthly life is only a preparation for the eternal journey, and after that its main part begins - Ahiret - or the afterlife. From the very moment of death, Ahiret is significantly influenced by the lifetime deeds of a person. If a person was a sinner during his life, his death will be hard, the righteous will die painlessly. In Islam, there is also an idea of ​​a posthumous judgment. Two angels - Munkar and Nakir - interrogate and punish the dead in the graves. After that, the soul begins to prepare for the last and main Just Judgment - the Judgment of Allah, which will happen only after the end of the world.

“The Almighty made this world a habitat for man, a “laboratory” for testing the souls of people for loyalty to the Creator. Whoever believes in Allah and in His Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), must also believe in the coming of the End of the World and the Day of Judgment, for the Almighty speaks of this in the Qur'an.

The most famous aspect of the Aztec religion is human sacrifice. The Aztecs revered the highest balance: in their opinion, life would not be possible without the offering of sacrificial blood to the forces of life and fertility. In their myths, the gods sacrificed themselves so that the sun they created could move along its path. The return of children to the gods of water and fertility (sacrifice of infants, and sometimes children under 13) was considered a payment for their gifts - abundant rains and harvests. In addition to offering a "blood sacrifice", death itself was also a means of maintaining balance.

The rebirth of the body and the fate of the soul in the afterlife depend largely on the social role and cause of death of the deceased (in contrast to Western beliefs, where only a person’s personal behavior determines his life after death).

People who succumb to illness or old age end up in Mictlan, a dark underworld ruled by the death god Mictlantecuhtli and his wife Mictlancihuatl. In preparation for this journey, the dead man was swaddled and tied to him with a bundle with various gifts to the god of death, and then cremated along with a dog, which was supposed to serve as a guide through the underworld. After passing through many dangers, the soul reached the gloomy, soot-filled Mictlan, from where there is no return. In addition to Mictlan, there was another afterlife - Tlaloc, belonging to the god of rain and water. This place is reserved for those who have died from lightning strikes, drowning, or certain agonizing illnesses. In addition, the Aztecs believed in paradise: only the most valiant warriors who lived and died like heroes got there.

It is the youngest and most cheerful of all the religions on this list. No sacrifices, just dreadlocks and Bob Marley! Rastafari followers are on the rise, especially among communities that grow marijuana. Rastafarianism originated in Jamaica in 1930. According to this religion, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was once a god incarnate, and his death in 1975 did not disprove this claim. Rastas believe that all believers will be immortal after going through several reincarnations, and the Garden of Eden, by the way, in their opinion, is not in heaven, but in Africa. Looks like they have great grass!

The main goal in Buddhism is to get rid of the chain of suffering and the illusion of rebirth and go into metaphysical non-existence - nirvana. Unlike Hinduism or Jainism, Buddhism does not recognize the transmigration of souls as such. It speaks only of the journey of various states of human consciousness through several worlds of samsara. And death in this sense is just a transition from one place to another, the outcome of which is influenced by deeds (karma).

The world's two largest religions (Christianity and Islam) have similar views on life after death. In Christianity, the idea of ​​reincarnation was completely rejected, about which a special decree was issued at the Second Council of Constantinople.

Eternal life begins after death. The soul passes to another world on the third day after burial, where it is then prepared for the Last Judgment. No sinner can escape God's punishment. After death, he goes to hell.

In the Middle Ages in catholic church a provision appeared on purgatory - a temporary place of stay for sinners, after passing through which the soul can be cleansed and then go to heaven.

Orthodox teaching about the afterlife. It must be said that there has always been an interest in the Orthodox teaching about the afterlife and the fate of the soul, and not only among church people. Below we present small reflections of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco concerning the afterlife of the human soul. You will learn about what the soul goes through the first days after death, you will learn the Orthodox view of ordeals, why commemoration on the 40th day is so important and why almsgiving is so important for the soul of the deceased.

"I look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come." (From the Creed)
Boundless and inconsolable would be our grief for dying loved ones, if the Lord had not given us eternal life. Our life would be aimless if it ended in death. What would be the use of virtue and good deeds then? Then those who say: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" would be right. But man was created for immortality, and Christ, by His resurrection, opened the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven, eternal bliss for those who believed in Him and lived righteously. Our earthly life is a preparation for the future life, and this preparation ends with death. “It is appointed for men to die once, and then judgment” (Heb. 9:27).

But the soul continues to live, not ceasing its existence for a single moment. When vision with the bodily eyes ceases, spiritual vision begins.

first two days after death.

During the first two days, the soul enjoys relative freedom and can visit those places on earth that are dear to it, but on the third day it moves to other spheres.

Macarius of Alexandria said: “When an offering takes place in the church on the third day, the soul of the deceased receives from the Angel guarding it relief in sorrow, which it feels from separation from the body, it receives because the doxology and offerings in the Church of God have been made for it, from which in it gives rise to a good hope. For in the first two days the soul is allowed to walk the earth wherever it wants, together with the angels who are with it. Therefore, the soul that loves the body sometimes wanders around the house in which it parted from the body, sometimes around the tomb in which the body is laid, and thus spends two days, like a bird, looking for nests for itself. And a virtuous soul walks in those places where it used to do the right thing. On the third day, He Who rose from the dead commands every Christian soul to ascend to heaven to worship the God of all.” (Christian reading, August 1831).

The third day. Ordeals.

At this time (on the third day) the soul passes through the legions of evil spirits, which block its path and accuse it of various sins, in which they themselves involved it. According to various revelations,

There are twenty such obstacles, the so-called "ordeals", at each of which one or another sin is tortured; having gone through one ordeal, the soul comes to the next, and only having successfully passed everything, can it continue its journey.

Forty days.

Then, having successfully passed through ordeals and bowed to God, the soul visits heavenly abodes and hellish abysses for another 37 days, not yet knowing where it will stay, and only on the fortieth day is a place assigned to it until the resurrection of the dead.

Commemoration of the dead.

How often can you see in cemeteries that on the days of commemoration of the dead, their relatives arrange feasts right on the graves or next to them, which cannot be called anything other than pagan feasts. Moreover - what blasphemy! - the remnants of vodka or wine are poured directly onto the graves of relatives or glasses of vodka, food are left on the graves of the dead ...

“What is going on in the cemeteries! - exclaims our contemporary, the famous elder Archimandrite John (Krestyankin). - On the graves, where there are crosses! “The Day of Remembrance of the Dead,” Father John continues, “is truly a black day for our departed! Instead of prayer, instead of candles and smoking incense, real pagan feasts are celebrated on the graves on this day. And our dead in the next world burn with the fire of sorrow and pity, like the gospel rich man who asked the Lord to tell his brothers, still alive, what awaits them after death. If any of you celebrated these feasts and gathered a feast at the grave, go to the cemetery and ask forgiveness from your deceased relatives for the terrible suffering that you brought them with your ignorance, and never again do this on a holy day when the Church prays according to your notes about the repose of our deceased loved ones, do not make this day the most painful for them. And ask the Lord for forgiveness for your foolishness. (According to the book of Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) "The Experience of Building a Confession")

The Church, according to our petitions, prays for the repose, for the salvation of the souls of the dead Orthodox, both at memorial services, and at parastases, and at the proskomedia, and at the Liturgy ...

In addition to prayer for the departed - church and home - another effective way commemoration of them and alleviation of the fate of the afterlife is the alms performed by us in their memory or on their behalf.

Alms.

Almsgiving is our feasible giving of some earthly blessings to people who need it, or to our poor brethren. Such actions help dead sinners a lot (there are no sinless people).

“Prayer, almsgiving belong to deeds of mercy, to deeds of charity ... Prayer for the deceased with alms, on behalf of him, propitiates the Lord Jesus Christ, who rejoices in deeds of mercy, done as if on behalf of the deceased himself.

Alms belong to the deceased. The custom of giving alms to the poor at the burial of the deceased originates from ancient times, the meaning of alms was known back in Old Testament.

The tradition of almsgiving for the dead also passed into the Christian world, where it received a high appointment, delivered a great reward in heaven to the almsman - eternal bliss. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7) and “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36) – these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself about the power and might of almsgiving and about salvation, which she delivers to her worker, as a reliable means of obtaining the Kingdom of Heaven. (According to the book "The Afterlife", the work of the monk Mitrofan).

Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco

The doctrine of the immortality of the soul is one of the most important in Christianity. The study of the question of the posthumous fate of the human soul is an important task for contemporary Orthodox theology. The immortality of the soul is connected with the question of the salvation of man, which, in turn, is the main goal of the existence of Christian theology. For Christianity, the accumulation of knowledge for its own sake is alien. Orthodox theology is a fully practical science aimed at a better understanding of God's relationship with man.

Man is called to serve God, using all his possibilities. Comprehension of divinely revealed truth should take place using all available information, including scientific. It is necessary to develop a Christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul and its posthumous fate in the light of modern scientific discoveries which do not contradict the patristic teaching on this issue, but confirm it.

The relevance of the question of the immortality of the soul is associated with an unprecedented revival of mass interest in this topic. It is on this basis Orthodox Church can conduct a dialogue with non-Orthodox researchers, as well as carry out a mission.

To this end, it is necessary to review the available scientific data: evidence of the post-mortem experience of people who were in a state close to death; opinions of resuscitators who observe in their work people who are on the verge of life, etc. It is necessary to compare these data with patristic testimonies and non-Christian teachings about the soul.

It should be noted that pressing need the development of some specific attitude of Christianity to non-Christian evidence of the immortality of the soul has recently arisen in connection with the rapid development of resuscitation medicine. Until recently, evidence of post-mortem experience was extremely rare. Therefore, there is a certain gap in the development of this teaching. But this gap allows us to use as a theological basis the teaching of the holy fathers, which was fully formed by the 5th century.

The theme of immortality is directly related to the search for the meaning of life. The main difficulty in understanding the meaning of life is the presence of suffering and death in the world. It is the mortality of a person that makes many come to the conclusion about the meaninglessness of existence. For some philosophers, the meaninglessness of life is a kind of theorem, the proof of which is based on human mortality. The anti-Christian orientation of this philosophy is also obvious. First, because the testimony of Holy Scripture and Tradition is rejected. Secondly, the logical conclusion of these thoughts is the conclusion about the need for suicide. This topic well developed in the work of E.N. Trubetskoy "The Meaning of Life". Human life without a higher goal that goes beyond the limits of earthly existence seems to be a series of suffering and nonsense. E.N. Trubetskoy, analyzing the nature of evil, comes to the conclusion that it does not exist independently, but as a perversion of good. Continuing this thought, one can come to the conclusion that the temporary - imperfect cannot exist on its own, but only as a perversion of the absolute - perfect. Those. the perversion of the absolute temporal is only when it claims to be self-sufficient, while in essence it is an infinitely small part of the eternal. From this follows the conclusion that eternal life is possible only in God.

Personal immortality is a Christian revelation. For non-Christian cultures and beliefs, it is one of the stumbling blocks in the way of understanding Christianity. Thus, the Old Testament speaks very little and allegorically about the afterlife. The understanding of eternal life is available only to a few. The prophets foresee it, but they do not talk about it openly, since the people are not ready to accept their testimonies. Moreover, the prophets directly connect the resurrection in eternity with the coming of the Messiah, that is, the posthumous state of the Old Testament man was different from the Christian one.

Many heretical and sectarian movements build their teachings about the soul on the letter of the Old Testament, denying eternal life. The substantiation of the difference in the Jewish and Christian understanding of the fate of the human soul, some of them see in the apostasy Christian Church from true doctrine. Thus, modern man receives the same temptations in the study of Christianity as the era of the assimilation of the New Testament by the Hellenic world. All the more important is the coverage of this problem from the standpoint of the teachings of the Orthodox Church.

A good attempt to harmonize the review of new scientific data in the light of the Christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul was made by Fr. Seraphim (Rose) in his book The Soul After Death. Data from medical studies of the post-mortem experience of Fr. Seraphim compares not only with Orthodox teaching, but also with evidence of occult practices, which makes the work more comprehensive and objective.

Father Seraphim compares the approach of Orthodox teaching, science and other religions to the question of the immortality of the soul.

It should be noted that there is no single work that contains in its entirety the Orthodox teaching on the immortality of the soul. Many Christian authors devoted to this issue either parts of their works, or entire works that do not claim to be a full presentation of the doctrine. Therefore, patristic literature will always be drawn on specific issues.

The doctrine of afterlife is contained in almost all religions and beliefs. But the fullness of truth is revealed only in Christianity. In the Old Testament religion, the doctrine of immortality is contained only covertly. Man's basic obligations to God do not go beyond human life on the ground. However, even in the Old Testament one can see the progress of mankind's preparation to receive the fullness of truth in Christ. So, in the Pentateuch of Moses, the earthly prosperity of a person is directly dependent on the fulfillment of the commandments, therefore, the consequence of their violation is earthly trouble. Already by the time of the prophets and kings, the concepts of spiritual purity, prayers for purity of heart, etc., appeared. Gradually comes the understanding that a person is not limited earthly life. However, this understanding was not accessible to everyone, but only to the best representatives of the Jewish people.

With the coming of Jesus Christ, the focus of spiritual life changes dramatically. There is a call to repentance in connection with the approach of the Kingdom of Heaven, and not for the purpose of earthly prosperity. The Lord Himself says that the law of Moses was given to the Jewish people because of their hardness of heart. The fullness of truth is revealed only in the Christian Church. For Christianity, the earthly component of human life is of value only to the extent that it contributes to the acquisition of the Kingdom of Heaven. There is an understanding of the temporality and frailty of everything earthly. true purpose the Christian is to enter the Kingdom and be with Christ in eternity. However, understanding the gospel does not come overnight. During the first centuries of Christianity, theological disputes were conducted, dogmatic definitions were honed. Gradually, the Christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul is being formed. However, app. Paul points to the incompleteness of human understanding of revealed truth. If now we see conjecturally, then we will see directly.

The main thing in understanding the Christian doctrine of immortality is that death is not a natural phenomenon for a person. Man was created immortal. His immortality was not absolute, but in the Divine plan it had to become such. Of course, the main evidence of this is Divine revelation. But this is confirmed by human existence itself. People have never perceived death as some physiological regularity. In all religions and cults there is a belief in the posthumous existence of man. This may be due to the memory of peoples about the true ancient religion when people communicated with God directly. But such beliefs are also confirmed by the testimonies of contemporaries who survived a state close to death. It is interesting that these testimonies, differing in details, coincide in the main.

So, what can be identified in the stories of people about the post-mortem experience.

First, it is the continuation of the existence of human consciousness after death. In almost all cases, immediately after death, no qualitative changes occur with the human consciousness. Many people did not even understand what had happened to them, believing that they were still alive. The view of one's own body from the outside was surprising to many. Such an experience is clearly not a vision caused by the physiological characteristics of brain dying. “There is amazing objective evidence that the person is indeed out of the body at this moment - sometimes people are able to retell conversations or give accurate details of events that took place even in neighboring rooms or even further away while they were dead.”

However, the unaltered consciousness does not long remain in this world. Many people talk about their meeting with representatives of another world. In different cases, these are either previously deceased loved ones, or spiritual creatures. In the latter case, there is a correspondence of spiritual creatures to the religious and cultural beliefs of the deceased. Thus, Indians who survived clinical death describe an encounter with Hindu gods, while Europeans speak of a meeting with Christ or with angels. In this regard, the question arises about the degree of reality and reliability of such meetings. In the case of meeting with deceased relatives, we can talk about the universality of the phenomenon. Such a meeting occurs regardless of the religion of the person. Whereas the nature of spiritual beings can be different. The testimony of the Holy Scripture unequivocally refers the pagan gods to demons. Therefore, the meetings of the Hindus with the gods of the Hindu pantheon, from the Orthodox point of view, can be qualified as a meeting with demons. But it cannot be assumed that all evidence of a meeting with angels reflects objective reality. It is known from Scripture that Satan can also take the form of an Angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). Based on this, we can conclude that meetings of this kind take place in the airy realm of fallen spirits, described in Christian literature. This is all the more objective evidence, because. people who had a similar experience might not have heard anything about the Orthodox teaching about aerial ordeals.

An integral part of the post-mortem experience is the vision of another world. It should be noted that it occurs without connection with the confessional affiliation of a person and regardless of the degree of his religiosity. Although the practical side of the vision may vary. Depending on the religious affiliation of a person, the elements of vision may change. If Christians see another world, which they define as paradise, then Hindus see Buddhist temples etc.

It is this part of the post-mortem experience that has the greatest contradictions with the Christian doctrine of death. According to people who have had a post-mortem experience, death is something pleasant. In such descriptions, there is absolutely no Christian attitude to death as the beginning of a private judgment on a person. In the cases described, people have positive memories of the post-mortem experience, regardless of their lifestyle and sinfulness. In order to understand the nature of this difference, it is necessary to analyze what are the emotions received in the process of dying. Whether they are a reflection of objective reality, demonic temptation, or just part of the physiological process of dying. To do this, you need to separate the direct visions described by eyewitnesses, and the emotions caused by them.

According to the latest research in the field of thanatology, positive emotions, close to euphoria, are caused by the action of an electrode on human brain, resulting in artificial inhibition of its individual sections, similar to that which occurs at the time of death. Proceeding from this, a person's emotional attitude to his post-mortem experience cannot be recognized as objective, since in the case described, similar emotions are achieved in a normal state, and not in a near-death state. Concerning the visions of the other world, only hypotheses can be made. The insufficient objectivity of human assessments of post-mortem experience is also evidenced by the fact that this assessment is obviously directly related to the humanistic-liberal development of modern civilization.

The exceptionally positive emotions given out by the posthumous state do not agree with the patristic experience. The evidence of a person's encounter with death described in patristic literature suggests that death is terrible for any person. All the more different is the death of the righteous and the sinner. It is not only a transition to a better world, but also the beginning of a private judgment, a time when it is necessary to give an account of the life lived. Almost all patristic descriptions of the posthumous state of people speak of the passage of the soul of the newly reposed air ordeals. This is the main difference between the Orthodox teaching about the soul after death and the modern teaching, developed on the basis of occult tendencies and the evidence of post-mortem experience interpreted accordingly.

The doctrine of air ordeals, private judgment, the possibility of the soul's transition not only to heaven, but also to hell for carriers modern culture seem more like obscurantism than a reflection of objective reality.

According to psychologists, the fear of death is the greatest in a person's life. Mortality itself leaves a certain imprint of tragedy on any life. Therefore, any person is forced to think about the question: “what then?”. The answer to the question about death is given according to the same rules as the question about the meaning of life. European civilization is doing everything possible to make life as comfortable and free as possible. No matter how trite it may seem, but even after death a person cannot deny himself a certain comfort. But here a contradiction arises not only with the Orthodox testimony about the posthumous state, but also with the evidence of the main world religions. One way or another, the doctrine of posthumous retribution is found everywhere. It is this fact that caused the massive turnaround from traditional religions in the direction of various occult practices and teachings that promise paradise without any extra effort.

The representatives of the new paradigm either reject the evidence of posthumous retribution altogether or speak of its illusory nature. The last statement is based, among other things, on the teachings of various pseudo-Hindu movements. It should be noted that information drawn from such sources is taken out of context and selectively. So, rejecting the doctrine of retribution based on pseudo-Hindu literature, a person may not believe in reincarnation and believe in paradise. As a result, a completely new understanding of the immortality of the soul is being created, which is a conglomerate of various beliefs.

A source worthy of separate analysis is the Tibetan Book of the Dead. This is an early Buddhist text that describes the state of a person's soul immediately after death, which must be read to the deceased in order to help him navigate the other world. The soul goes through three successive post-mortem states of "bardo", after which it falls to a new incarnation. The main emphasis is placed on the fact that all posthumous visions of a person are illusory and symbolic, but do not reflect objective reality. However, the theory of retribution is also present here. Firstly, the main goal of the chain of rebirths is the liberation from the wheel of samsara (being in this world) and the transition to nirvana, which can be achieved by a certain austerity. Secondly, the incarnation is possible in one of the six worlds, depending on the merits of the deceased.

Despite the fundamental difference in the interpretation of posthumous visions, they also have some similarities with the posthumous experiences of Europeans and descriptions in patristic literature. So, for example, in the first posthumous state, a person sees light, i.e. supreme god with which to associate itself. Then he immediately passes into nirvana.

Analysis of the evidence of occult practices also proves the similarity of individual post-mortem experiences, regardless of a person's beliefs and religious affiliation. However, the main emphasis must be placed on the interpretation of occult experience. Those. it is required to evaluate from the Orthodox point of view what exactly a person sees with the help of occult practices. The answer to this question is clear - individual people have the ability to see the world of fallen spirits. Descriptions of mediumistic experiences of the 19th-20th centuries completely coincide with the descriptions of the heavenly world of fallen spirits in patristic literature.

The mediumistic experiences themselves can be divided into two groups. The first group includes spontaneous and, as a rule, short-term visions of the phenomena of the other world. To the second - long journeys in another world, when a person sees dead relatives and spiritual beings, whom he tries to interpret in one way or another.

From examples of post-mortem experience taken from various sources, and occult teachings about the soul, it is clear that the contradictions between them and the Orthodox teaching about the immortality of the soul are, as a rule, imaginary. The main contradictions arise in connection with different interpretations of certain phenomena. But with a deep study of patristic literature, one can understand that the new scientific data do not contradict the testimony of the fathers. However, modern researchers of post-mortem experience admit subjectivity in their work. To some extent, they form a new doctrine of the posthumous fate of the soul, based on the ideals of Western civilization, the ideals of the consumer society.

The Orthodox Church possesses a treasure of patristic literature, and therefore can comprehend new scientific data in the light of sacred tradition and testify to the world of his teaching. It is on this basis that Orthodox theology must build the modern doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Dealing with new scientific data, the modern theologian only receives additional arguments for ideas expressed long before the birth of a full-fledged science.